Clockwise from left: Lunching in the Gyre Building. The Hotel Andaz lounge. The Tadao Ando and Issey Miyake museum, 21_21 Design Sight. The entrance to Ryokan.

TOKYO BY DESIGN A heaving megacity, Tokyo is home to a myriad of design hives. This street-by-street guide offers a compass to the fleet of flagship stores, hallowed design halls and non-brand novelties that inspire the city.

Neon-lit, high-rise, crowded, and at turns unfathomably bizarre; flip through many of the brochures or guidebooks on and Tokyo is painted as some kind of Blade Runner-esque vision of the future. In plac- es, in fairness, it almost is. Take , home to a global (geek) culture that comprises such things as comics, arcade gaming, ani- mation, and . Or look at the heaving Takeshita-dori high street in and its colourful, bordering-on-odd teen fashions. There is, by ROB GOSS however, more to discover in Japan’s capital than Hello Kitty, cramped

illustrations by MAKERS CO rush-hour trains and robots. When it comes to contemporary design, INC PARTNERS, & YOSHIMURA/NACASA MASAYA MVRDV. OF COURTESY HART. ’T ROB IMAGES:

1:40 0:101 sleek architecture and chic fashion, make gave Omotesando Hills a signature six- in the natural world. Then there’s Mark’style Tokyo (marks.jp/en) where AN ARCHITECTURAL TIMELINE no mistake that Tokyo is very much on the floor atrium that dips three floors under- the theme is ‘contemporary Japanese design’ with Good Design Award-­ From early Western influences to the advent of cutting edge. ground and rises three above, and which winning stationery and travel goods. Apart from retailing sleek, func- the high-rise urban complex, you can trace the he linked together with a 700-meter spi- tional and very urban-focused design, the store offers a colourful Pop progression of architectural trends in Tokyo by visiting some of the city’s landmark structures. THE GRAND OMOTESANDO-DORI ral ramp dubbed the ‘second Omotesando’. Art stationary range in collaboration with Yayoi Kusama, Japan’s queen Look at Omotesando-dori. The almost The ramp leads visitors past 100 or so shops of conceptualism. KINGO TATSUNO’S ­kilometre-long tree-lined avenue in the and restaurants that after a major 10th an- Across the road from one end of Omotesando Hills, the Gyre build- (1914) heart of Tokyo originally functioned as niversary revamp in early 2016 now offer a ing (gyre-omotesando.com) is another of the area’s modern malls worth A student of British architect Josiah Conder, the processional route to the , window to the various shades of contempo- investigating. On the third floor, Gyre most notably houses the Tokyo out- who designed many of the first Western build- where the modernising Meiji Emperor is rary Omotesando style. For fashion, there’s let of the MoMA Design Store (momastore.jp/momastore), which stocks ings that appeared in Japan during the early now enshrined, but over the years it has be- the luxury urban streetwear of designer Mi- almost 2,000 design and interior items that range from kitchenware to Meiji era, Tatsuno became a prominent archi- tect in his own right with buildings like the come a centre for fashion, design and archi- hara Yasuhiro (miharayasuhiro.jp) – a very stationery. While many of the items here are designed and manufactured Bank of Japan and the -side build- tectural experimentation. The main street Omotesando look – as well as Kolor Bea- overseas, MoMA also has a good selection of locally made goods, from ing of Tokyo Station, which today faces the itself, Omotesando is the site of stores for con (kolor.jp/beacon), which under lead Teruhiko Sahashi’s­ affordable marble tumblers to Mina Takaoka’s rich glistening Marunouchi and Shin-Marunouchi high-end European fashion and accessory designer Junichi Abe retails a range of al- platinum and gold leaf bowls, as well as design classics such as Isamu No- skyscrapers. The Neo-Baroque design uses steel One of Isamu Noguchi’s brands, but more interesting are the sleek most utilitarian workwear-inspired cloth- guchi’s 1950s paper lamps. framing and features a distinctive redbrick washi paper lamps multi-store buildings and malls like the ing. At Hirotaka (hiro-taka.com) you can ­façade, and inside has a vaulted dome that after a five-year restoration ending in 2012 is available from the MoMA Tadao Ando-designed Omotesando Hills also catch a glimpse of where Japanese jew- BEELINES AND BARISTAS Design Store. Farming-net once again in pristine condition. (omotesandohills.com) building, which runs ellery is heading, with Hirotaka Inoue’s Wandering off the main Omotesando-dori into the area’s back streets light pendants by Tokyo design studio Nendo. Muji almost a quarter of the way up one side of collection of minimal, yet exotic rings, ear- calls forth even more examples of chic Tokyo. On Cat Street, which JIN WATANABE’S Rice Cooker designed by the street. Opened in 2006, the self-taught rings and other accessories that take their cuts across Omotesando-dori next to Gyre, there’s a chance to see WAKO BUILDING (1932) Naoto Fukasawa. Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning Ando inspiration from shapes and colours found what’s going on with street fashion – not the brash youth trends of A rare survivor of the devastation of WW II, Wako Building is now one of several high-end department stores in the district, al- though it began life during the post-earthquake rebuilding of the city in 1923. Built in the Neo- Renaissance style and with a curved granite façade, it highlights the ongoing influence ­European architecture had on the likes of Watanabe and other leading Japanese ­architects of the day (even though Japan at this time was becoming ultra-nationalistic). Its signature­ clock tower even apes the chimes of Westminster.

KISHO KUROKAWA’S NAKAGIN CAPSULE TOWER (1972) Postwar, with Tokyo in tatters, architects had to work on necessity – to rebuild as quickly and affordably as possible. It wasn’t until the late 1950s that Japanese architects and designers began again to revel in creativity, and it was here that the Metabolism Movement was born, with young architects like Fumihiko Maki and Kisho Kurokawa attempting to create struc- tures under the concept of organic growth. Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower in the district is a Metabolist classic, featur- ing two interconnected concrete towers home to 140 self-contained prefab capsules that can be connected to create larger spaces or added to in order to expand the building.

KENZO TANGE’S TOKYO METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT BUILDING (1990) The opening of the twin towers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s offices in in 1990 gave Tokyo a new landmark and at 242 meters was to be the tallest structure in the city until the construction of in in 2006 (see main text). Even today, it dominates the Shinjuku skyline, towering men- acingly like something from a dystopian fu- ture. Or, as Lonely Planet perfectly puts it, “like a pixelated cathedral”. Looking at the scale of Tange’s creation, the building was the final step toward what would be Tokyo’s next urban de- velopment trend – the ever-growing number of massive ‘city within a city’ tower complexes that began with (see main text).

0:102 1:43 SHIGERU BAN’S NICOLAS G. HAYEK CENTER (2007) One of Japan’s seemingly ever-growing num- ber of Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning ar- chitects, Shigeru Ban has become well known for his innovative use of cardboard tubing in architecture and in particular his work to de- sign quick-to-construct housing for disaster vic- tims, such as those affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. He is also one of Ja- pan’s most stylish and modern-thinking ar- chitects, as his design for the Swatch Group Japan’s head office (the Nicolas G. Hayek Cent- er) in the plush Ginza district shows. Home to offices and showrooms for each of the Swatch Group’s brands, the exterior is defined by four- storey-high glass shutters that when open allow the building’s cavernous ground floor atrium to function as a walk-through, and wall-to-ceiling vegetation in the atrium that offers a verdant retreat from the busy, built-up streets of Ginza.

THE NEXT OLYMPIC LEGACY It took a while to get there, but as of Decem- ber the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games has a design for its Olympic Stadium. Back in 2012, when Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid won the contract with a planned 80,000-seater stadium set to be built by 2018, things had appeared to be going smoothly, but then came the backlash from Japanese archi- tects, who argued that Hadid’s design was too Takeshita-dori, but a more sophisticated urban look. It’s along this as a very chic, contemporary destination, it THE HIGH ARTS From left: Aerial rendering big for its proposed location and too expensive. street connecting Omotesando to that you’ll also find The also has its ‘old Japan’ moments, and they Fashion, architecture and design have cer- of the new National Some complained that a Tokyo Olympic Games Roastery by Nozy Coffee (tysons.jp/roastery/en), a collaboration between are well worth seeking out to get some kind tainly reshaped Omotesando in fairly recent Stadium designed by Japanese architect Kengo design should be created by a Japanese archi- ­Californian-inspired restaurant group and brewer T.Y. Harbor and of understanding of the traditional Japanese years, but it isn’t alone in that. Long known tect. And when all was said and done, two years Kuma. The Tadao Ando- Japanese company Nozy Coffee that highlights another trend in Tokyo art and architectural styles that still influ- as a place for eating, drinking and partying later Hadid’s plan was scrapped by the Japan designed Omotesando Sports Council and the bidding was reopened. – the city’s burgeoning love affair with artisanal coffee. Like the dark, ence many in modern-day Tokyo. The Mei- at night, the Roppongi area also underwent Hills atrium with shops The bidding came down to a choice be- almost industrial interiors at the centre of which is a 360-degree ji Shrine (meijijingu.or.jp/english) behind a major transformation in the 2000s with and restaurants. The tween designs from famed Japanese architects barista counter, the menu here is hipster-simple, with just three coffee Harajuku Station (just beyond the northwest Tokyo’s first pair of ‘city within a city’ mega- Roastery, one of Tokyo’s best roastery cafés. The Toyo Ito and Kengo Kuma, the latter of whom options scrawled on the blackboard menu that can be made with a end of Omotesando) is a sprawling, calm- structures, the Roppongi Hills (roppongihills. Claska Gallery & Shop was one of the vocal critics of Hadid’s origi- varying choice of two single-origin beans. Walk along Cat Street all the ing retreat from the city with a main shrine com) and Tokyo Midtown (tokyo-midtown. nal design. Kengo Kuma’s oval design, which “Do” on the 2nd floor of way to Shibuya and you could sample a slightly stronger drink trend, built in the 1920s to hold the souls of the com/en) complexes. Opened to incredible features a lattice framework that incorporates the hotel. wood and greenery that should help it blend craft beer at Goodbeer Faucets (goodbeerfaucets.jp). Along with an Meiji Emperor and Empress that provides a hype in 2003 at a cost of US$ 2.5bn, Rop- into its site in Tokyo’s sprawling Park, explosion of new microbreweries across Japan, new places to try local beautiful glimpse at traditional architectural pongi Hills set the tone for numerous ur- won out for its ‘Japanese-ness’. Barring any hic- and imported craft beers seem to pop up almost monthly in Tokyo, from aesthetics. At the other end of Omotesando- ban redevelopment projects that followed, cups, it is set to be completed by late 2019 at a tiny independent bars to outlets run by world-renowned craft brewers dori, tucked away in the equally fashionable its buildings combining residences, office cost of ¥155bn, and it will be the only fully new like BrewDog (in Roppongi). With minimalist interiors punctuated streets of Aoyama, comes the Nezu Muse- space, retail space, five-star hotel, TV studio, venue for the 2020 Olympic Games, which will by shimmering stainless-steel taps that serve a changing range of 40 um (nezu-muse.or.jp/en), which houses the restaurants and bars, galleries, and beyond. utilise a range of existing facilities across To- Japanese and overseas craft beers, Goodbeer Faucets, however, is worth 7,400-piece collection of Japanese and other At its heart is the 54-floor Mori Tower, which kyo that includes Kenzo Tange’s neighbouring Yoyogi Gymnasium Stadium, built with its dis- the walk for its selection and the lively mix of customers that runs from pre-modern Asian art put together by indus- as well as observation decks with hypnotic tinctive suspension roof for the swimming and fashion­istas to beer geeks. trialist Kaichiro Nezu (1860-1940) in a slick views across Tokyo features one of Tokyo’s diving events at the 1964 Games. Back to Omotesando. While the area has become known primarily Kengo Kuma-designed building. best contemporary art and design galleries

1:44 1:45 up on its 53rd floor in the shape of the Mori sey Miyake-Tadao Ando collaboration 21_21 and crafts with a modern twist (or sometimes not) is on view at The Cover Art Museum. As of writing,­ the two main Design Sight (2121designsight.jp/en). Cur- Nippon (thecovernippon.jp), which brings together cloth, furnishings, ce- exhibitions here are a look at urbanism, rently displaying an exhibition on the design ramics, ironware and lacquerware from artisans around Japan. architecture and innovation by archi- and function of zakka (loosely translatable tect Norman Foster’s Foster + Partners as ‘sundries’ or ‘miscellaneous goods’; run- ARTISANAL ALLEYWAYS and contemporary Japanese artist Takashi ning until June 2016), 21_21 Design Sight Looking beyond Roppongi’s two complexes, it would be hard to overlook ­Murakami’s The 500 Arhats collection, while was created to showcase contemporary de- the National Art Center (nact.jp/english), which as well as being the final upcoming shows will include the next instal- sign and its role in society, which it does not architectural project of Metabolism Movement co-founder Kisho Kurok- ment of the museum’s triennial Roppongi just with ongoing exhibitions but also with awa also became the third of Roppongi’s three major contemporary art 1 Crossing series developed to highlight Japa- regular presentation events and workshops venues when it opened shortly after Midtown in late 2006. For scale, the nese contemporary artists. in a distinctive Ando-designed building fea- 14,000m2/150,000 sq.ft. of exhibition space is unmatched in Tokyo, yet In 2006, a rival to Roppongi Hills then turing one floor above ground that’s capped oddly for a facility of that size (in Japan, anyway) there is no permanent appeared with the opening of the US$ 3bn with giant steel plates and another sunken exhibition. Instead, each year at the NAC sees an incredibly diverse range Tokyo Midtown less than a kilometre away, below ground. Away from the art and de- of shows, with 2016 scheduled to have classical art exhibitions on Renoir Tokyo designer Mina Takaoka's gold and platinum bringing a similar mix of ingredients to what sign, inside Midtown’s main building the fo- and also the Venetian Renaissance as well as a retrospective on the work Leaf Bowl available at was now one of Tokyo’s most ‘in’ areas. As cus is on shopping, in particular with a range of fashion designer Issey Miyake and another show highlighting the prize- the MoMA Design Store. Roppongi Hills was capped with a Grand Hy- of fashion, design and lifestyle stores. Here, winning works from the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival. You can call that 2 Spring/summer 2016 att, the top of one of Tokyo Midtown’s build- representing the rise of the ‘non-brands’ is eclectic. It is also one of the many venues that takes part in the annual collection by Japanese ings is home to a Ritz-Carlton. And where a branch of Muji and its understated interi- Roppongi Art Night, a self-titled ‘one-night, all-night art extravaganza’ fashion designer Mihara Yasuhiro. Kyusu, product Roppongi has Mori, Midtown has a duo ors and clothing, the latter often defined by held since 2009 in late April that sees many of Roppongi’s art venues open designer Daisuke Kitagawa's of art venues with the traditional arts and simple stripes and natural tones, while the throughout the night along with one-off art events and happenings out in take on an espresso maker. crafts of the Suntory Art Museum and the Is- growing trend to embrace traditional arts the streets.

3

WHERE TO STAY IN STYLE Up until the late 1990s, accommodation in To- kyo was limited by comparison to other major international cities to rather staid Western- style hotels. Earthquakes, fires and war didn’t help Tokyo hold on to the kind of tradition- al accommodation that cities like Kyoto have, and the city was slow to embrace design hotels and major international luxury brands. Fast­- forward 15 years, however, and Tokyo has it all.

1. ANDAZ TOKYO From the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi through to Shinjuku’s Park Hyatt (the Lost in Translation hotel) and the Mandarin Oriental in Nihon- bashi, to name just a few, Tokyo now has no shortage of ultra-luxury hotels, but it took un- til 2014 for the Andaz brand to land in Japan. It landed on top of the 52-storey Hills, the latest in a long line of towers that combine office space with shops, restaurants and more. Designed by Toni Chi and Shinichiro Ogata, the Andaz takes inspiration from classic Japanese interior design, incorporating natural materi- als, washi paper and simple woods with touch- es like fusuma screens, but it also goes hard on indulgence with spa and treatment rooms, fine dining options and an open-air bar way up on the 52nd floor. www.andaztokyo.com

2. TOKYO RYOKAN Tokyo may not have much in the way of tradi- tional accommodation, but the contemporary Tokyo Ryokan’s three rooms have been built

0:106 1:47 very much with the traditions of the Japanese inn (called ryokan in Japanese) in mind, using a combination of tatami matting and polished cedar flooring, shoji paper screen doors,shik - kui plaster walls, and other centuries-old ma- terials and construction methods that naturally ventilate and brighten the inn. It’s a case of de- sign hotel meeting old Japan under the mantra of ‘less is more’, and doing so in a prime loca- tion for exploring the old part of town. tokyoryokan.com

3. THE CLASKA A rarity when it opened and still one of To- kyo’s best design hotels, the Claska’s 21 rooms are each based on one of five themes, ranging from traditional (with partial tatami flooring and paper screen windows) to Scandinavian- influenced modern to weekly residences, and benefit from being in a quiet corner of trendy Meguro Ward (about a five-minute taxi from the nearest station, Meguro). Giving the hotel more of a community feel is its contemporary gallery, design store and hip café-bar, which at- tract local creatives. claska.com

DESIGN READS

NAOTO FUKASAWA (PHAIDON 2007) One of Japan’s most renowned and influen- tial contemporary product designers, Fuka- NAVIGATING TOKYO sawa’s work is examined by himself and in the In one sentence: ignore buses (except for airport essays of artists, designers and academics that expresses) and stick to trains, the subway and include Kenya Hara, Jasper Morrison and An- walking. Tokyo’s extensive train and subway net- tony Gormley, introducing readers to more work means you are rarely more than a 15-minute than 100 of Fukasawa’s designs and what he walk from a station of some kind or other. Bet- calls his “simple, restrained and user-friendly ter yet, except when a rare big earthquake or ty- approach.” phoon hits town or when a suicide by train occurs Not all of Tokyo’s cutting-edge trends, however, are found in built-up Naka-Meguro style with antique furniture Three must-see museums (sadly, not infrequently), the trains and subway in Tokyo (from left): The HIROSHI FUJIWARA: FRAGMENT complexes and plush areas like Omotesando and Roppongi. Over in Na- alongside vintage American womenswear are extremely reliable and punctual, running be- National Art Center, the (RIZZOLI 2014) ka-Meguro hip takes a very different form, with small, independent out- and menswear, buttons, badges,­ signage tween roughly 5 A.M. – midnight. Suntory Museum of Art A founder of Harajuku style – of street fash- lets dominating, be they cafés, boutiques, galleries or vintage stores. The and all sorts of other bits and pieces a To- Tokyo Metro and Toei are the two main subway and the Mori Art Museum. ion, art, design, and music – Hiroshi Fujiwara’s vibe here is laidback, almost bohemian, and is never better than in late kyo hipster needs. Then there’s the new, companies and both operate numerous lines that impact on contemporary Japanese design has March and early April when the Meguro River running through the area with the likes of 1LDK and 1LDK Apart- crisscross central Tokyo. Most trains are operated been profound. In many respects, he’s been by Japan Railways (JR). You can buy tickets at vend- turns pink with the seasonal cherry blossoms and is then lit at night with ments (1ldkshop.com), which aesthetically the tastemaker of a generation, and this rich- ing machines near the ticket gates on rail lines and ly illustrated book provides a first comprehen- lanterns as local cafés and bars set up in the street for the annual hanami is almost an artisanal Muji, offering sim- subways, but it can be confusing to work out your sive look at his extensive and ground-breaking (cherry blossom viewing) festival. While Roppongi and Omotesando have ple, functional and natural toned clothing, fare, especially at stations with no English guid- work. major art galleries, Naka-Meguro goes small, with intimate venues that housewares and a variety of other lifestyle ance, and it’s not very convenient buying tickets include The Container (the-container.com); actually a single shipping con- goods from its own Universal Products label every time you hop on and off a train. To make DESIGNING DESIGN BY KENYA HARA things easy, buy an electronic Pasmo or Suica tainer that each year features four site-specific installations by Japanese and other small Japanese and overseas pro- (LARS MULLER 2015) pass (¥500 deposit required; can be bought at As creative, elegant and perfectly simple as his and international artists that often take on socio-political themes. ducers. It would be easy to spend a whole any ticket machine), which you can pre-charge design work, Designing Design captures graph- Likewise, the stores in Naka-Meguro – housed in low-rise buildings, day in Naka-Meguro exploring places­ like and then swipe on the turnstiles when entering ic designer Kenya Hara’s insights into, influ- found in narrow streets that beg to be explored – shun the obvious glitzy these and still not have scratched the sur- and exiting a station to automatically deduct the ences on and approaches to his craft. As the brands and tend to go for retro or new artisanal items. Capturing that face, but combine it with some time in fare. Pasmo (Tokyo Metro) and Suica (JR) can be art director of Muji and president of the Nip- Naka-Meguro vibe best are places like Cow Books (cowbooks.jp/english) Omotesando and Roppongi and you will used interchangeably on any Toei, JR or Tokyo pon (Japan) Design Center, among many other Metro line, as well as on other private rail lines and its wide selection of art, design and beat generation books in English at least come away with an idea of where roles, Hara is a design giant in Japan – one of and many buses. Many convenience stores and the people responsible for shaping the look of and Japanese from the 1950s to 1970s, and J’Antiques, which looks like ­contemporary Tokyo is headed, and a view vending machines accept them for payment, too.

twenty-first century Tokyo. a rundown bric-a-brac store from the outside, but is a great example of MUSEUM ART MORI KIOKU. KEIZO CENTER. ART NATIONAL THE IMAGES: of the city that belies its neon-lit image.

1:48 1:49